Boston was to face Miami on Sunday with the NBA’s minimum number of eight players. In the end, the Heat weren’t even sure they’d have that many.
The Boston-Miami game was postponed, not because the Celtics reported the unavailability of seven players due to league health and safety protocols to play during the coronavirus pandemic, but because of concerns around exposure within the roster. of the Heat.
The Heat learned hours before that point guard Avery Bradley would not be available for the game in Boston due to the protocols implemented by COVID-19. That meant the Heat had to review the contact tracing data, and with that process still underway Sunday afternoon, the decision was made to postpone the meeting as a precautionary measure.
The league announced the decision about two hours before the match scheduled for 7:00 pm (local time).
The Celtics would have suffered the absence of seven of their players because of the protocols for COVID-19, all of them discarded hours before the NBA’s decision was announced, in addition to two others who are out due to injuries. That would have left Boston with just eight players available, the minimum number allowed by the league.
The Heat didn’t even have that many NBA-licensed players, hence the decision to postpone the game. The team was staying in Boston while following the contact tracing process and plans to play in Philadelphia – another team that has virus-related problems – on Tuesday or Thursday. The 76ers played with just seven players Saturday in a loss to Denver, doing so in part because some were discarded in accordance with virus protocols.
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Associated Press journalist Brian Mahoney in New York contributed to this report.
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